Brighten the Corners

Brighten the Corners, released in 1997 on Matador Records, was the fourth album by Pavement. Their previous release had been the sprawling genre-fest of Wowee Zowee, but Corners was shorter and more focused. If anything it sounded like a grown-up version of Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain from just three years earlier, although it wasn't entirely free of the irony and unhinged yelling that had previously found their into way Pavement's music.

Tracklisting: (total run-time 46:17 minutes)

Stereo (3:08) - Ultra-ironic but inescapably catchy indie-rock. Stephen Malkmus' wise-guy lyrics and off-key singing were never more Nineties. ("What about the voice of Geddy Lee / How did it get so high? / I wonder if he speaks like an ordinary guy.") Released as a single, reaching #48 in the UK.

Shady Lane (3:51) - The most accesible track on the album, a surprisingly melodic song that was also released as a single and reached #40 in the UK charts. The line "Oh my god / Oh your god / Oh his god / Oh her god / It's everybody's god" is surprisingly straightforward for Pavement.

Fascinating trivia: the album was produced by Mitch Easter, the guy who also produced R.E.M.'s first album, Murmur.

Brighten the Corners reached #27 in the UK album charts, slightly worse than the previous two albums (Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain and Wowee Zowee) and the follow-up, Terror Twilight. In America it got to #70, which was actually their best US chart position for any record, album or single.